More towns may get Street Pastors

Police say crime has dropped in some areas where pastors patrol

A scheme in which Christian volunteers patrol town centres at night, offering help to people who need it, could be extended across Devon and Cornwall.

The Street Pastor initiative already operates in four districts in the region.

But organisers describe a seminar later in Exeter as the 'first step' towards introducing it in another 30 towns.

Recorded crime in Torbay dropped in the first six months of the scheme running there, police said.

This is not about bible-bashing, it is about showing compassion Insp Roger Bartlett, Devon and Cornwall CPA

Street Pastors, which is a national initiative, began in Torbay in March 2008.

Since then further schemes have begun in Plymouth, Ilfracombe and Cambourne.

Teams of volunteers from local churches patrol town centres on weekend nights, supported by the police and councils.

Insp Roger Barlett, from Devon and Cornwall Christian Police Association (CPA), which is hosting the seminar, said: "Street Pastors help the lonely, the vulnerable, the intoxicated, the intimidated, the frightened and the troubled and in doing so can prevent people becoming victims of crime.

"This is not about preaching or Bible-bashing, it is simply about showing compassion."

Ros Ede, from Torbay Street Pastors, said: "The public is really supportive.

"We've been told by everyone from taxi drivers to police inspectors that the atmosphere in the town is completely different whenever Street Pastors are out."

Police in Torbay said that, in the area covered by the street pastors, reported violence fell by 18%, robbery fell by a third and sexual offences and vehicle crime also dropped.

The calculation was based on crime figures from March 2008 to September 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

And, according to the Ilfracombe Street Pastors, when they patrolled the town on New Year's Eve, there were no recorded arrests.